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CVE-2023-52952 Siemens CVE debrief

A restricted desktop environment escape vulnerability exists in the Kiosk Mode of Siemens HiMed Cockpit medical devices. An unauthenticated local attacker can exploit this flaw to break out of the restricted environment and gain access to the underlying operating system. This vulnerability affects four HiMed Cockpit models used in healthcare environments, where kiosk mode is typically deployed to limit user interaction to specific clinical applications. The CVSS v3.1 score of 8.5 (HIGH) reflects significant impact potential including availability compromise, with scope change indicating impact beyond the vulnerable component. The attack requires local access but no privileges or user interaction, making it exploitable by anyone with physical access to the device. Siemens has released a vendor fix in version V11.6.2 or later. Healthcare organizations should prioritize patching given the sensitive nature of medical data and potential for lateral movement from compromised endpoints.

Vendor
Siemens
Product
HiMed Cockpit 12 pro (J31032-K2017-H259)
CVSS
HIGH 8.5
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2024-10-08
Original CVE updated
2025-05-06
Advisory published
2024-10-08
Advisory updated
2025-05-06

Who should care

Healthcare delivery organizations, biomedical engineering teams, clinical IT security staff, and medical device asset managers responsible for Siemens HiMed Cockpit deployments in hospital and clinical environments.

Technical summary

The Kiosk Mode implementation in Siemens HiMed Cockpit devices fails to properly restrict user access to the underlying operating system. An unauthenticated attacker with local access can escape the restricted desktop environment, gaining full OS access. The vulnerability affects HiMed Cockpit 12 pro, 14 pro+, 18 pro, and 18 pro+ models. The CVSS v3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:H) indicates local exploitation with scope change, enabling impact beyond the kiosk application to the host system. Siemens has addressed this in version V11.6.2, available through customer support channels.

Defensive priority

high

Recommended defensive actions

  • Contact Siemens customer support to obtain patch V11.6.2 or later for affected HiMed Cockpit devices
  • Prioritize patching devices in high-traffic or publicly accessible clinical areas where physical access risk is elevated
  • Review and restrict physical access to HiMed Cockpit devices to authorized personnel only
  • Monitor for anomalous system behavior or unauthorized process execution on affected devices pending patch deployment
  • Apply defense-in-depth controls per CISA ICS recommended practices for medical device environments
  • Verify kiosk mode configuration and application whitelisting after patching to ensure security controls remain effective

Evidence notes

Vulnerability description and affected products confirmed through CISA ICS advisory ICSA-24-284-08 and Siemens security advisory SSA-540493. CVSS vector indicates local attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction, scope change, with low confidentiality and integrity impact but high availability impact. Remediation guidance specifies update to V11.6.2 or later with customer support contact required for patch delivery.

Sources and references

Verified primary and authoritative sources

  • CVE-2023-52952 CVE Program record

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52952

    CVE Program - Official CVE Program record with source-provided CVE metadata.

  • CVE-2023-52952 NVD vulnerability detail

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52952

    NIST National Vulnerability Database - Official NIST NVD detail page and source-specific vulnerability assessment.

Supplemental references

  • Source item URL

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cisagov/CSAF/develop/csaf_files/OT/white/2024/icsa-24-284-08.json

    cisa_csaf

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/csaf/ssa-540493.json

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-540493.html

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-24-284-08

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ics/alerts/ICS-ALERT-10-301-01

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/resources/ics-recommended-practices

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/topics/industrial-control-systems

    Reference

  • Source reference

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://us-cert.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/recommended_practices/NCCIC_ICS-CERT_Defense_in_Depth_2016_S508C.pdf

    Reference

Methodology and review provenance

AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.